


Clause 8

by Tonksbeybey



Category: Humans (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Fluff, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-05
Updated: 2015-09-05
Packaged: 2018-04-19 02:32:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4729421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tonksbeybey/pseuds/Tonksbeybey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Leo Elster has never watched Anastasia. A fact which Mattie Hawkins plans to change. Luckily it's ‘Non-Disney Kids’ Animated Vintage Favourites Festival Week’,so there is a screening at the cinema. Who would have thought that one afternoon of entertainment comes with so many rules.<br/>Just a one shot full off mindless fluff.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Clause 8

**Author's Note:**

> First of all I don't own any characters from Humans, Anastasia and I also don't own the song "At the beginning".
> 
>  
> 
> Thanks a lot to reflectivemuse, who gave me great advice for the content. I followed it as good as I can =) And also a million thanks for letting me steal the "they are at the cinema" idea =)
> 
> And thanks a billion times to ottermo for proof-reading (she had to add a quadrillionmillionbillion commas), and for slapping some Britishness onto it XD

Leo and Mattie sat in the kitchen of the Hawkins household. Each one had a cup of tea in front of them and between them lay an open newspaper.

„You really wanna tell me that you’ve never watched Anastasia? Like ever? You’re totally missing out, mate.”

“You think so? It can’t be that good, can it?”

“Don’t be so sceptical, Leo. It’s really amazing, yeah okay it’s slightly old-ish but really, really amazing.”

“Well it has to be old to be shown at that festival thing.”

“It’s not a ‘thing’, it’s ‘Non-Disney Kids’ Animated Vintage Favourites Festival Week’.”

“Now repeat that quickly three times in a row without passing out”.

“Funny, Leo. Now come on, we should totally go there! If we go now we can make it to an early screening.”

“Mattie, I’m 21. You’re 17. I think we would attract a bit of attention? As in: were too old to go there?”

“Nonsense you’re never too old for Disney.”

“It’s not Disney.”

Mattie rolled her eyes.

“Oh come on, you’re too young to be an old grumpy man. Let’s have fun just for once. It won’t kill you…hopefully.”

“I won’t go into a cinema to watch a children’s cartoon without having a child around. No way.”

Mattie started grinning.

“Well if that’s the only thing that’s stopping you from coming along, may I introduce you to my token child of the last 7 years?”

Mattie stood up and walked to the bottom of the staircase.

“Sophie, dearest! We’re going to the cinema.”

There was silence for a few seconds.

“Oh no, not agaaain.”

“Soph, do you remember the deal?”

There was a deep sigh coming from the top of the stairs.

“Fine. But my price has inceased. Can Mia come too?

Sophie walked down the stairs.

“It’s ‘increased’, not ‘inceased’. She’s away with mum, but Leo will come with us.”

Sophie shrugged her shoulders.

“You know the charge.”

“Yeah I do. Okay Sophie, get ready. I’ll get Leo.”

 

* * *

 

“What film are we going to watch?”

Leo, Mattie and Sophie sat in the car. Leo was driving while Mattie and Sophie talked business.

“Anastasia.”

Sophie sighed, then looked at the car roof, her tongue slightly sticking out of the corner of her mouth, muttering things whilst trying to count.

Mattie interrupted her.

“That’s chart 1, columns 2 and 3 and clause 7”

“I want clause 8 as well. We need clause 8.”

Mattie sighed deeply.

“All right, and clause 8.”

Leo raised his eyebrows.

“So there’s a system?” he asked.

Sophie nodded happily.

“It’s to determine what she gets for her performance.” Mattie explained.

“Performance? In the cinema?”

Mattie smiled.

“Wait ‘til you see it. She’s great.”

“So what does all that stuff mean, that you agreed on?”

Sophie took a big breath.

“It’s chart 1 because she’s made me watch it a trizillion times already, column 2 is because I get scared, column 3 means that there is kissing on the mouth, which is totally yucky and clause 7 is that I’m allowed to sing every song afterwards without being corrected.”

“Well, that sounds reasonable to me. So what’s clause 8?”

Mattie turned around to Sophie.

“Soph, I don’t think we should discuss all the business in front of Leo, do you?”

Her cheeks had gotten a fairly pink colour.

Leo grinned at her.

“Oh no, no it’s quite alright to tell me, isn’t it Sophie?”

Leo gave Sophie an amused wink that made her giggle.

Mattie raised her eyebrows as a signal to Sophie not to reveal the secret of clause 8.

“Sophie, remember I’m the one who pays you.”

Sophie, who had already opened her mouth, closed it again.

“Alright Mats, but we need clause 9. No one’s allowed to mutter along with the lines.”

Mattie nodded and Leo shrugged his shoulders.

“I don’t know the film, so that’s fine with me.”

 

* * *

 

“Pssst, Mattie. What’s clause 8?”

“I’m not telling you. And now shush, we’re next.”

Mattie gave Sophie the sign, and popped a chewing gum in her mouth. Sophie, who up ‘til now had looked rather bored, started to beam with excitement.

“Oh damn, nearly forgot.”

Mattie tugged at Leo’s sleeve. Leo, who’d been looking over the crowd in the foyer - quite literally, because except for a few parents now and then and one or two older siblings he towered over the whole bunch of little kids - turned towards her.

“Now, it’s really important for you to look bored, and like someone forced you to come here…oh wait just look like you normally do, that should be fine.”

Leo raised his eyebrow, and gave her an accusing and annoyed look.

“Perfect. You’re a natural.”

Then it was their turn to get the tickets.

“OH I’ve been waiting foreeeever. Did you see that cute dog on the poster? I bet the girl with the red hair is the hero. Do you think the dog’s cute, Leo? Can I buy the tickets? Oh please, oh please, oh please!”

Sophie became the personification of gleeful anticipation.

Mattie sighed, looked up from her mobile, and continued chewing her gum loudly and visibly.

“Alright.”

She handed her the money.

Sophie got on her tip-toes to reach the counter.

“Heeeelloo. Anastasia, please.”

The middle-aged woman who was selling the tickets smiled at her.

“And how many tickets do you need, dear?”

“One for me, one for my sister and one for her boyfriend.” Sophie said, with her most angelic smile.

Mattie tried to remain her ‘bored and too old for this shit’ facial expression, but her cheeks got a bit of colour and she almost swallowed her chewing gum.

Meanwhile Leo, who had tried to look bored, but had felt the urge to give a ‘I’m a normal guy accompanying his girlfriend and her sister, we will not snog in the back’-smile, ended up grinning sheepishly.

“Oh that’s nice of them to accompany you. Are you exited already?”

If Mattie wasn’t sure that Sophie’s head was completely attached to her body, she would have been afraid it might fall off because of her nodding.

“Here’s three tickets then, sweetheart,” said the woman smiling, and handed Sophie the tickets in exchange for the money.

“Thank you!” Sophie replied in her sweetest voice.

They walked away, and Mattie took Sophie’s hand.

“Sophie, that’s you off your Toblerone.”

Sophie giggled.

“Oh come on Mattie, it was really funny. Now she thinks you and Leo do yucky stuff together.”

“Like what?”

“Oh you know…”, Sophie looked around, trying to determine if anyone was listening before she whispered dramatically “ k-i-s-s-s-i-n-g.” She giggled.

Mattie couldn’t help but grin. “You spelt it wrong though, that’s one ‘s’ too many.”

“Oh that on tiny ‘s’. I got all the rest right. Can I look at the sweets?”

Mattie nodded and let go of her hand. Sophie dashed off.

“You’re proud of her, aren’t you?” Leo asked, amused, while Sophie was staring at the snacks, deciding what to get.

“Yeah, throwing people under the bus of awkwardness at this young age, that’s my girl. By the way, can you get Sophie and wait with her over there? I’ll get the snacks.”

“Course, but why?”

“You’ll see.”

 

* * *

 

“Are there ten other people coming with us and you both forgot to tell me?”

“Of course not. Don’t be silly, we only bought 3 tickets. That’s for us.” Sophie answered. And Mattie burst into snickering.

“There’s no way we can eat all that. I mean, a whole bucket full of popcorn? Pick ‘n’ mix? Maltesers and chocolate raisins? Oh and you bought the Toblerone as well. Are you insane Sophie will get sugar rush…or die of instant diabetes.”

“Oh, so you do care.” Sophie replied and patted Leo’s arm. Mattie, who had calmed down a bit, burst into laughter again.

Leo couldn’t help but grin.

“She gets that from you, doesn’t she?” he asked, and looked at Mattie.

Before she could reply, Sophie let out an excited little scream.

“It’s open! We can go in!”

They passed the ticket collector, who told them in which screen they needed, and whilst Sophie was walking in front of them in a bobbing movement, Leo helped Mattie carry all the snacks.

“You were right, she really is amazing at this. But Mattie, really, we can’t eat all of this stuff. Sophie, especially, shouldn’t eat too much of it.”

Mattie sighed. Their screen was on the top floor, so they had a lot of stairs to climb.

“Okay Leo, chill. We have a system. Sophie eats two tiny hands of popcorn at the most, maybe two Maltesers, about five raisins, one thing each from the pick ‘n’ mix and then one Toblerone. Considering the amounts of chocolate she eats around Easter, Halloween or Christmas, that’s absolutely nothing.”

They entered the screen, and Mattie, who was now walking in front of Leo, had to mutter over her shoulder to explain the rest.

“She’ll be alright, and we’re allowed to eat as much as we want. And then we take the rest home to my parents and Toby, who by the way paid for it, and then they can snack their hearts out. It’s all planned out.”

They worked their way towards their seats in the highest row, in the right hand corner.

Sophie was waiting there for them.

“Soph why aren’t you already sitting doooo…oh hell no.”

Mattie looked at their seats.

Leo, who had stopped behind her, starred down on them as well.

There was an awkward silence.

“Mattie, can I switch my seat with Leo? I want to sit with you in the big seat.”

Mattie and Leo, both looking a bit flustered, nodded eagerly.

“Of course you can!” Mattie replied with a voice a tiny pitch higher as usual.

They took turns holding stuff for each other until they were seated.

Sophie sat on Mattie’s left in the big seat with her, and Leo sat on her right in a normal seat.

He leaned towards her and whispered in the direction of her ear, so that Sophie wouldn’t catch on. “I had no idea that couple seats still existed.”

“Mmmm, me neither.”

 

* * *

 

“Hold this!”

Mattie lifted the popcorn bucket from the floor and almost tossed it into Leo’s arms. Thanks to his reflexes, he managed to grab it, and prevented the contents from spilling all over him.

Mattie threw herself on the floor on all fours, where the bucket had been a few seconds before.

The lights had not gone out yet, and they received some curious looks from other people, mainly kids, in their row.

Leo bent over.

“Mattie what are you doing?” he whispered.

“Ssssshhhhhh! I lost my contact lense.”

“Mattie you don’t wear contact lenses.”

“Well then, my glasses.”

“You don’t wear glasses either.”

Sophie tugged at Mattie’s shirt.

“Mattie are you playing farm animal? I thought you wanted to watch the film.”

Mattie sighed, annoyed.

“Could you both be quiet please? I don’t want them to see me. Do you think they saw me?”

Leo lifted his head and looked around carefully. The only people who were standing were a boy about Mattie’s age and a bunch of younger kids, waiting for the people in their row to let them pass.

In this moment the lights went out.

Mattie sighed, relieved, and got up again and sunk into her half of the seat.

“What on earth was that about? Who was that?” Leo asked confused.

“Nothing. Nobody, really. Now shush it’s starting.”

 

* * *

  

“You muttered along. That’s against the rules.”

“Sophie I didn’t mutter along, I was pretending to sing along to Rumour in St. Petersburg.”

“Well technically that’s muttering along, Sophie is right.”

“Thanks, Leo.”

“You’re welcome, Sophie.”

Mattie sighed, annoyed.

“Yeah thanks Leo! Should I move so you two can gang up on me more easily?”

“No I don’t think that will be necessary” Leo answered, while smiling at her.

“Right. Now shush you’ll miss the best parts!”

Sophie giggled.

“You mean Dimitri’s parts. Mum told me Mattie had a crush on him when she was my age” Sophie had to lean over Mattie to pass this very important information on to Leo.

Mattie blushed.

“No I did not!” she answered, a bit too defensive.

“I just…I just like guys in waistcoats?” she muttered, asking herself three seconds later why on earth she’d said that out loud.

Leo gave her what she would count as a smug smile.

Mattie rolled her eyes and tried to tame the wide grin that wanted to appear on her face.

“Oh shut up you two and eyes on the screen,” she said, grinning awkwardly.

Mattie could still feel her cheeks burning.

“If I carry on like this I’ll glow in the dark. Mattie the red-cheeked reindeer,” she thought.

 

* * *

 

“Is she asleep?” Leo whispered carefully.

Mattie looked down at her little sister, who was snuggled up against Mattie’s side.

“Yeah, she always falls asleep in the middle and wakes up before the end. Oh ‘Paris Holds The Key To Your Heart’ is next. That’s a great song!”

Leo, who got the hint, focussed on the screen again.

They were almost completely through the song when he imagined that he could hear sniffing noises, like someone was choking back tears, next to him. He moved his head only slightly and looked at Mattie.

Tears were running down her face, and he could see that she was moving her lips to the line “No more pretend/You’ll be gone… that’s the end”.

Leo who wasn’t sure what else to do, placed his hand carefully on Mattie’s and squeezed it slightly.

Mattie turned toward him and started to chuckle with her tearful voice.

She wiped away her tears with her left hand, leaving the right just where it was.

She leaned closer to Leo.

“There you go. The big secret of clause 8. No sobbing, wailing, ugly - or- ordinary crying allowed. It’s just…”

Mattie, who didn’t want to tell him the whole truth about what or rather whom else she associated with this line at this very moment, choked back some more tears.

“It’s just… I’m such a crybaby when it comes to this film.”

Leo smiled at her, and something about his eyes made her suddenly feel a lot warmer than it was in the cinema.

She had to look away for a second, which broke the moment.

“Please don’t tell Sophie that I broke the agreement.” Mattie whispered.

“I won’t, I promise” he whispered back.

Leo wasn’t sure if he should remove his hand from the top of Mattie’s, and was promptly met with an answer when she linked her fingers with his.

They both smiled awkwardly at each other and looked back at the screen.

 

* * *

 

Sophie was awake again, and in order to avoid questions, or the awkward situation of a little girl shouting “were you two snogging?!” through the whole hall, Mattie and Leo had let go of each other’s hand.

“Leo, do you know who Anastasia reminds me of?” Sophie asked, and almost had to climb over Mattie.

Mattie rolled her eyes.

“Shhh this is the best scene, could you like not talk right now?”

Leo who was staring mesmerised at the screen turned to Sophie who now kneeled on Mattie’s lap.

Mattie, who was trying to watch the scene where Anastasia finally kicked Rasputin’s ass to hell, held her sister around the waist so she wouldn’t fall over, while simultaneously craned her neck in order to see the scene properly.

“Who does she remind you of?” Leo asked, his eyes switching back and forth between Sophie and the screen.

“I’m not telling; you have to guess. And Mattie you have to guess who reminds me of Dimitri.”

Leo thought about the fierce young women he knew.

“Niska?”

Sophie started giggling, and shook her head.

Mattie was about to reply to her question when some parents in front of them turned around and shushed at them.

 

* * *

 

“You have to close your eyes, the yucky scene starts any minute!”, Sophie whispered, or rather tried to whisper.

She had sat normally on Mattie’s lap for about 5 seconds before she got up again in her kneeling position. She leaned towards Leo and tried to cover his eyes with her tiny hands.

Leo tickled her instead.

“If I can’t watch it you’ll have to describe it to me, Sophie. In detail.”

Sophie squeaked.

“Oh no.”

“Well how about you sit down again, and I’ll cover your eyes for you Soph?” Mattie asked.

“Noooo, I want Leo to do that.”

“Well but then you have to sit on his lap because I want to be able to see the film.”

“Or he can sit next to you and I can sit on one leg each and you can both cover one of my eyes; we could play mums and dads!”

“We’re not playing mums and dads, Soph.”

“Oh, why not?” Leo replied, pretending to be hurt by her words, but then winked at her.

Mattie sighed and shook her head, but couldn’t stop grinning.

Before Sophie could ask again, Leo’s hand dashed forward and covered her right eye whilst Mattie covered her left.

 

* * *

 

 _We were strangers starting out on our journey_  
_Never dreaming what we'd have to go through_  
_Now here we are and I'm suddenly standing_  
_At the beginning with you_  
  
_No one told me I was going to find you_  
_Unexpected what you did to my heart_  
_When I lost hope you were there to remind me_  
_This is the start_

“Why do we have to watch all the credits? Look, everyone else is going.”

“Sshhh Sophie, if you let me watch this I’ll give you one more Toblerone.”

Sophie sighed.

“You with your bibrery.”

Leo grinned.

“You mean bribery, Sophie.”

Sophie moaned dramatically.

“I know what I meant and you two know as well, so why do I have to correct it all the time?”

Leo wanted to reply, when Sophie suddenly started chanting “Rule breaker, rule breaker!”

Leo looked at Mattie.

“I’m not crying! I have something in my eyes!”

Sophie took Mattie’s face into her hands.

“I can’t see anything in your eyes. Only salt water. You broke clause 8. I got you!”

“Wait, what happens if someone breaks a clause?” Leo asked, irritated.

Mattie rolled her eyes.

“The other person can make them do one thing for the rest of the day. Okay, little monkey, tell me what I have to do, even though I only had something in my eye.”

Sophie grinned.

“I’ll tell you later.” And because she didn’t want Mattie to be annoyed with her she gave her a big smooch on the nose.

 

* * *

 

“Mattie?”

The person to whom that name belonged turned around.

“Oh shit,” she thought.

She had hoped that he’d already left the cinema, especially since she’d taken the time to watch all the credits. But then Sophie had to go to the toilet and Leo apparently as well, and they had left her in the cinema lobby, her arms crammed with snacks.

“Oh my god, Harun! Hi! What are you doing here?”

He, surrounded by a bunch of kids, looked at her in confusion.

“I took my cousins to see Anastasia, like I told you three days ago. I’m not trying to be rude but what are you doing here? You told me you had no time for the cinema.”

“Yeah well, actually Ididn’t have time for the cinema because…I was going… to the cinema.” Mattie muttered and started to blush while her face turned into a grimace of ‘oh god why did I say that that doesn’t make sense oh god I’m terrible.’

“So you were too busy to go to the cinema with me and my cousins because you were going to the cinema?” Harun sounded confused. His confusion was exploited by his little cousins, who then informed him that they wanted to buy more popcorn, and ran off.

However Harun and Mattie both got distracted by Sophie and Leo, who were approaching them.

Sophie stopped beside Mattie and eyed Harun suspiciously.

Whereas Leo exclaimed: “Here let me help you…”, he gave a small look in Sophie’s direction, who raised her eyebrows and nodded. Leo looked as if he was internally sighing before he turned back to Mattie, smiled widely and completed the sentence with a “…luv”. He then proceeded to take half of the snacks out of her hands, put them in his pocket, placed the bucket in Sophie’s arms and gave Mattie a little kiss on the cheek.

Mattie blushed. “What the…? Am I in the wrong film or something?” she thought, irritated by Leo’s behaviour.

Leo smiled at Harun.

“Oh hi, sorry I don’t think we’ve met before. I’m Leo, Mattie’s boyfriend. You are Harun, I assume? Mattie has told me a lot about you,” he said nicely, but gave Mattie a quick apologetic look that Harun couldn’t see.

Mattie, who had wanted to call him out on his weird behaviour, heard a strangely familiar sound, known to her as Sophie trying not to burst into giggling. She gave her sister a sharp look, but she just grinned mischievously as a reply.

“Well mystery solved. Sophie has found a broken clause,” Mattie thought and decided to have a bit of fun with this situation. Sophie wanted them to act like a couple, well that was what she was going to get. Mattie grabbed Leo’s hand, smiling at Harun, who was now chatting with Leo. In an awkward pause between the two, she addressed her friend.

“Harun, I’m really, really sorry that I lied to you, but Leo and I don‘t see each other often and we wanted to spend some time alone, but Sophie desperately wanted to go and see Anastasia with us, didn’t you Sophie? She absolutely loves that film. Isn’t that right…Schatz?”

The last words were spoken to Leo, who had told her once that he remembered a strange great-aunt from Germany who had always spat into her handkerchief, cleaned dirt off his cheeks and babbled in German about what a cute little darling he was. He absolutely hated it.

Leo smiled back at her and said through almost clenched teeth. “Absolutely right, luv”.

Mattie grinned triumphant whereas the gleaming in Leo’s eyes told her that the game was on.

Leo placed a hand on her waist, pulled her closer and pressed a kiss on her temple. He knew exactly that she hadn’t like temple kisses since she was five, when her mother’s friends from work had been at a party and when they came back to the Hawkinses’ a lot of drunk older ladies had covered her in temple kisses until she felt sick from the smell of alcohol and strong perfume.

Leo turned to Harun again, who looked slightly disturbed by Mattie placing her hand on Leo’s shoulder and teasingly blowing her breath on Leo’s neck, while giggling and apparently whispering sweet nothings, in a higher pitch than normal. She chose the neck breathing mainly because Leo couldn’t stand it. Last week she had stood behind him when he was at his computer, and the breath on his neck totally freaked him out and gave him almost a minute of unpleasant goosebumps.

The billing and cooing was the perfect way to get back at Sophie, who thought that not only kissing but almost all couple-y behaviour was yucky.

“Ugh!” said Sophie out loud, looking offended by the fact that they were trying to ruin the fun for her.

Harun, who still stood in front of them, was briefly distracted by his little cousins who came back with their popcorn.

“Kiss me.” Mattie whispered, through clenched teeth, because she was still faking a smile.

“What?” Leo whispered back.

“Sophie hates kissing. Revenge is sweet, remember? And Harun, look at him, he doesn’t believe a word. I told you about you- know -what last week. Help me out here, mate. You don’t have to really kiss me, just a brief smo… .”

Mattie couldn’t finish the sentence because Leo had turned to her, with a serious and sincere look on his face, took her face into his hands and kissed her gently.

It was a slow and sweet kiss, but Mattie had the impression that there was something more to it as well. She knew that Leo always kept his walls up, even since they had become friends and started to joke around and tell each other things. He just never seemed able to really let go. And with this kiss it felt like the wall began to crumble from the emotions swirling behind it; leaving a wisp of nervousness, longing and the overshadowing feeling of something more…almost a promise… as an aftertaste.

Mattie’s heart started to race. Or maybe it had raced the whole time, but only then did she start to realise it. She always thought feeling like having butterflies in one’s stomach during a kiss was just a worn out cliché, but apparently there was something true about it. “Or maybe I’m just very cliché. Well, at least I have steady knees,” she thought.

 

* * *

 

Mattie and Sophie sat in the car in a parking space in front of a shopping centre. Leo had stopped there abruptly, muttering something about a purchase he had to make. He had left the car almost 30 minutes ago.

Mattie decided to use the time to speak to her little sister.

“Why on earth did you choose for him to behave like that?”

Sophie shrugged her shoulders.

“You haven’t guessed who reminds me of Anastasia and Dimitri,” she replied, simply.

Mattie’s jaw dropped. Had her little sister tried to play Cupid because of the two fictional characters Mattie liked the most? But when she thought a bit better about it, she came to the conclusion that that didn’t fit at all.

“I don’t think either of us is particularly like either of them. Well okay, Leo looking for a home, but apart from that?”

Sophie sighed, leaned forward and patted Mattie’s shoulder.

“Maybe you’ll see what I mean,” she just answered, cryptically.

Before Mattie could make fun of the fact that Sophie was talking like a grown woman, Leo came back and put something in the boot, before he got into the car again.

“What did you buy?” Sophie asked curiously.

“Oh, nothing in particular” he answered mysteriously.

“Well then what took you so bloody long?” Mattie wanted to know.

“You’ll see it later,” he answered and winked at her.

 

* * *

 

“What on earth are you wearing? And why are you still awake?”

Mattie sat at her desk, working on her computer when Sophie rushed in, dressed in a dog onesie.

“Well nobody’s here, Mum and the Elsters have all gone to the cinema and Toby is staying at Colin’s and he took all the snacks with him! I’m bored and I’m not tired at all.”

Mattie sighed. Maybe the last Toblerone had been one too many after all.

She was bored as well, though she’d never admit it, and on the other hand, unlike Leo, she hadn’t been in the mood to go to the cinema twice in just one day. Whereas her parents only needed the smell of popcorn and the notion that the synths had always wanted to go to the cinema but never had done so, and then they took off.

“Okay, what do you want to do? And since when do you even own this thing? Did dad buy it for you?” Mattie asked, because it just looked like something that her dad might think was a humorous present for his little daughter, and Sophie nodded beamingly.

“Okay, so what do you want to do?” Mattie asked again.

“Let’s go downstairs and play pirates on the sofa, oh please, oh please, oh please!”

Mattie smiled at her little sister.

“Well, okay.”

 

* * *

 

“Wha…What happened here?!”Mattie asked in surprise, while she looked at the living room. All furniture had been moved to the sides, revealing an open space in the middle.

“Who did this?” she asked, confused.

The next second, there was music quietly coming from the kitchen.

Mattie looked at Sophie. “Is Toby back?” she asked warily.

The music grew louder and it wasn’t something that Toby would have listened to. In fact it sounded strangely familiar, but Mattie couldn’t quite place it.

Mattie was about to enter the kitchen, when the person responsible entered the living room.

“Wha…what on earth are you wearing?” Mattie asked, irritated.

“It’s a dress shirt and waistcoat.”

Leo grinned at her, while smoothing down his brand new piece of clothing.

“So that’s what you bought?” she asked, already feeling that tingly feeling again. It was true she really, really liked men in waistcoats, especially if they were half-human and their name started with an L.

“Wait a second…that song?” Her eyes widened with the sudden recognition of the music.

“Yeah, it’s an instrumental version. Don’t worry, I didn’t buy you a tent. I mean I would have, but I didn’t know your measurements.” Leo admitted, looking a bit flustered.

“Oh that’s a shame and I so wanted to have the Russian circus inside a piece of clothing.”

They both chuckled.

Leo then reached out his hand, with the palm facing upwards and offered it to Mattie.

“Leo, I can’t dance.” She answered.

“Well, that’s no problem. We’ll just make something up.”

She took his hand and shook her head in amused disbelief.

Leo walked with her to the middle of the room and stood opposite to her.

“This one is easy. We just have to put our hands on each other’s waist, and then you’ll need to push your knees through and then we’ll just seesaw from one leg to the other.”

Mattie laughed. “Like this?” she asked, and they started their dance.

There was permanent laughter, because the almost frequently managed to mess it up and almost fell over one another.

“It’s not really fitting to the music, is it?” Mattie asked, letting out a little squeal when Leo made a sudden rotation.

“Oh who cares” Leo laughed.

“Leo, why are you even doing this?” Mattie asked, amused.

“Well your sister’s rule was that I should behave like a boyfriend the whole day, and according to your favourite film, this is what a boyfriend does.”

He winked at her.

Mattie smiled and then looked around.

“Where is Sophie, by the way?”

“Oh she went upstairs like 5 minutes ago. She only agreed to get you down here if she could play Pooka. So now she’s being true to the character and fled the scene.”

“Wait a sec, does that mean you bought…?”

Another abrupt rotation; another squeal. But this time she could see mischievous amusement in Leo’s eyes.

“Alright, dropping the topic. But Leo, what clause did you even break?” Mattie asked cunningly, feeling like she was probably onto something there. A something, which could probably make a big difference in her life.

“Oh clause 8. Yeah really. I just couldn’t that whole story and then the song at the end. And she waited outside the toilet for me and someone just left, and I was washing my hands and she saw me crying. That’s it.”

Mattie looked him in the eye.

“I don’t believe one word of what you just said, you know that, right?”

He grinned.

“Well you’re smart, that’s why I like you so much. So what is your theory, then?”

Mattie answered, whilst trying to ignore the racing of her heart.

“Mhm lemme see… I think you probably jumped on an idea my sister had, and made a plan with her.”

Leo nodded. His eyes squinted and lips pressed together as a sign of consideration of what Mattie just had said.

“But what motive do we have here, my dear Watson?”

“I don’t know you tell me, Sherlock.”

“Well maybe we should stop dancing for the explanation part of this evening.”

Mattie grinned like a Cheshire cat before she remarked:

“We’ve already stopped.”

“Well, I owe you an explanation then, don’t I?”

Mattie nodded seriously. She felt like she was starting to see what Sophie had meant.

Leo took her face into his hands, and this time the kiss wasn’t a slow one; the longing was more than just an aftertaste.

Mattie knew that his walls were still up, but maybe they would get there eventually.

Until then every kiss would taste of the same promise.

A beginning.


End file.
